Bush To Propose Manned Trips To Moon, Mars

January 09, 2004|By Tribune Newspapers

WASHINGTON — President Bush will announce next week a plan to send humans back to the moon early in the next decade as part of a sweeping new agenda for the American space program, sources said Thursday night.

Bush's announcement likely will include dates for retiring the aging space shuttle fleet and the international space station, a plan to establish some kind of long-term presence on the moon and the intention to eventually send people toward Mars and elsewhere in the solar system.

Glenn Mahone, NASA's chief spokesman, said Thursday night that Bush's commitment to space exploration -- reinforced by the landing of the robotic rover Spirit on Mars last weekend -- is finally ready to take the form of a concrete proposal.

That proposal is expected to be unveiled Wednesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The blueprint was crafted by an administration group that includes Vice President Dick Cheney, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and representatives from several other government agencies, including the Department of Defense.

According to NASA sources, the space shuttle would be retired by 2010, the date the fleet would have to be recertified as safe to continue flying. The international space station would be completed by then, and American involvement in the project would begin to be scaled back by 2013 or so. Manned lunar missions could resume shortly thereafter.

NASA already is developing an orbital space plane that would carry crew and cargo to the station. Space plane prototypes could be ready for testing by 2008.

Sources said the plans would require additional funding beyond the $15.5 billion 2004 budget passed by the House late last year. But it's unclear just how much more would be needed.

The president's plan is by far the most ambitious for NASA since George H.W. Bush proposed a manned Mars mission in 1989. That idea -- which carried a price tag of several hundred billion dollars -- faded quickly in the face of its huge cost.

Since then, NASA has focused on unmanned research missions -- such as Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, which is scheduled to reach the Martian surface Jan. 25 -- and putting people into low-Earth orbit on the shuttle and the space station.